Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Revolutionaries

Since this week began with our celebration of Independence, I thought I would share my notes from a book I read last year on the leaders of the American Revolution. The "founding era" is my favorite time period in U.S. history. Last summer, I read Jack Rakove's Revolutionaries. Here are some basic themes and lessons I learned from this book (from a Power Point I used in class to discuss the book with students):

- This revolution affected the world (inspiration for other revolutions, changing the geo-political relationship among nations, effects still evident today with our founding documents and ideas)

One segment of the book I personally enjoyed was the story of Henry and Jack Laurens of South Carolina and the personal trauma both endured. I remember being so aggravated at Jack Laurens for how he treated his wife. There's a brief discussion about Laurens on the Amazon page for this book (linked here).

Here are some other notes regarding the social history of the Revolution that I use in class: